Veronica Diggs, of Bridgeport, rides Metro North a couple of times a week to visit family in New Rochelle, NY. She is seen here on one of the new M-8 trains as it leaves Bridgeport, Conn. Nov. 15th, 2012. She said she likes the new trains.

Veronica Diggs, of Bridgeport, rides Metro North a couple of times a week to visit family in New Rochelle, NY. She is seen here on one of the new M-8 trains as it leaves Bridgeport, Conn. Nov. 15th, 2012. She

If you drive to work in Fairfield County's notoriously sluggish traffic, you're kissing a week of your life goodbye every year.

A survey released Tuesday measures the economic impact of congested highways and shows that drivers in southwestern Connecticut wasted an average $902 apiece sitting in traffic in 2011, and 42 hours -- a full five-day work week -- behind the wheel.

That's because the time it takes to make the 23-mile trip from Bridgeport to Stamford on Interstate 95 increases from 20 minutes at "optimal" times, to as long as an hour when congestion is at its peak, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute survey found.

A&M rated the Connecticut, New York and New Jersey region the fourth worst in the nation for traffic. Washington, D.C. ranked first.

Commuters in the nation's capital needed almost three hours for a trip that should take 30 minutes without traffic, according to the report.

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Bridgeport-Stamford-New York

Annual amount of gas consumed by congestion: 19 gallonsAnnual hours lost by congestion for each commuter: 42 hoursDollar cost of congestion to each commuter: $902Length of rush hour (morning and evening): 5 hoursExcess CO2 due to congestion:

New HavenAnnual amount of gas consumed by congestion: 16 gallonsAnnual hours lost by congestion for each commuter: 35 hoursDollar cost of congestion to each commuter: $717Length of rush hour (morning and evening): 3.25 hours

Connecticut's ranking is no surprise to Milford resident Mark Lofthouse, a food company sales representative who drives across the tri-state region and into Massachusetts.

"You can see the difference on the highways on a Monday holiday compared to a work day," he said. "Everybody's late so everybody is rushing and you have the road-rage idiots who've already had three Starbucks. Then there's the ice to contend with at this time of year."

While government officials in other urban areas consider ideas like "congestion pricing" -- charging more of drivers on the highways during peak times or to use special high-speed lanes -- Lofthouse said that idea would only make things worse in Fairfield County.

"We already pay the highest gas tax in the nation," he said. "The last thing we need is another fee."

Lofthouse suggested providing a free annual rail pass for commuters who travel from one city to another every day.

"If you want people to try your product you have to give them a coupon; at the end of the year they'll see how much time and stress they've saved, and how much money on parking, and they may buy their own pass," said Lofthouse, a former Planning and Zoning Board member in Milford. "(Or) maybe the employers, seeing their people arrive on time and safely, would decide to subsidize them."

While it may seem to motorists like all of Fairfield County hits the road each morning, ridership on Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line hit a record 38.8 million customer trips in 2012 -- 1.5 percent higher than 2011's record-breaking 38.2 million rides -- a sign of an improving economy.

"I would invite those people wasting time in traffic, try taking the bus or train," Cameron said. "That time can be put to better use. I scratch my head and wonder who puts up with that kind of aggravation?"

The nation's commuters are adapting to increasing traffic congestion by building delays into their schedules, but at a cost of $121 billion in wasted time and fuel, according to the A&M study.

On average, Americans allowed for an hour of driving time for a trip that would take 20 minutes without traffic -- the same amount for those Bridgeport/Stamford commuters.

The total nationwide added up to 5.5 billion additional hours that Americans spent in their cars during 2011.

A&M's Transportation Institute uses 30 years of traffic data, and its annual reports are one of the key tools used by experts to solve traffic problems.

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There were 56 billion pounds of additional carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere because of clogged roads in 2011, the report found, the equivalent of 380 pounds per commuter.